


Witch Trials

by aliaoftwoworlds



Series: Bitter Retribution [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Author is Bitter, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliaoftwoworlds/pseuds/aliaoftwoworlds
Summary: They’d been in Wakanda for less than a week when everything went to hell.





	Witch Trials

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know why this took me so long to write, something about the actual news report just tripped me up forever. I’m still not entirely happy with how it turned out, but here it is. After this is a multi-chapter one inspired by a Wix story that I’ve been excited to write for about a hundred years, so here’s hoping that it turns out as good as it seems in my head.
> 
> If you tried to play a “spot the hypocrisy” drinking game in this one you’d probably die of alcohol poisoning. I was feeling particularly uncharitable toward Steve and his inner thoughts, plus of course Wanda is Wanda, and even T’Challa is guilty of being a hypocrite in part of this.
> 
> The archive warning is there because there's a couple brief descriptions of injuries that some people might find a little disturbing. Nothing drawn out or extremely descriptive.

They’d been in Wakanda for less than a week when everything went to hell. 

Steve had brought the others there with him after breaking them out of the Raft because they needed a place to stay, to regroup, and to hide, at least temporarily, from the people out for their blood, out in the world. Eventually, they’d be welcomed back home, but it would be good to keep their heads down in the meantime.

Sooner or later—hopefully sooner—Tony would get to work on bringing them back home. No matter what had happened between them, what he’d done in the heat of the moment, Tony was still a good man, and he knew the world needed all of the Avengers. Steve would give him time to calm down, to recognize where he’d gone wrong… and maybe just some time to himself, too. That fight… everything had been wrong about that, and Steve still felt an uncomfortable churning in his gut when he thought about how he’d left Tony there, bruised and bloody and heartbroken.

But he’d sent his apology, and even if he was angry at first, with time Tony would calm down. He’d understand that Bucky was innocent, why attacking him was the wrong thing to do, and why Steve had had to defend him. Steve might have to give him another apology when they got home—saying it again couldn’t hurt, particularly with someone like Tony, who could be stubborn about holding a grudge—and maybe Tony’s would come in the form of some kind of expensive gift or tech, his usual go-to since he seemed incapable of actually saying it out loud, but Steve would know what he meant. 

The others might not be quite so forgiving, but they’d get past it with time, too. Maybe Steve could even persuade Tony to put his pride aside for a moment and give a real apology to them, particularly to Wanda, who was without a doubt the angriest at Tony right then. Steve couldn’t blame her, after everything that had happened to her. Everything that could have been avoided if Tony had just trusted them, just listened to them. 

Steve knew that Tony would forgive them. But when Tony made his first public appearance since the Civil War—as the media was calling it—just three days after Siberia and a day and a half after Steve and the others had arrived in Wakanda, some of that hope wavered.

They watched from a high-tech, expensive Wakandan television, with a picture so clear that Steve couldn’t fail to see the livid bruises and raw scrapes on Tony’s face, the cast on his arm, or the very slight bulge under his shirt where his ribs were obviously wrapped up. He couldn’t help but see the way Tony moved slowly and hid a wince with every step. That stony guilt hardened his stomach further.

The press conference itself was short. Reporters shouted questions about the Civil War, the so-called Rogue Avengers (Steve hated the name and what it implied about them, but what could he do from there? Even if he could dispute it, what would he say? He’d willingly left his shield behind in Siberia. No matter that he wished he had it back now, at the time, Bucky had been more important than any title), and how Tony had been so obviously injured. And Tony…. Tony told the truth.

Not all of it, for which Steve was profoundly grateful. But enough to surprise everyone. He told them that the split in the Avengers was less about the Accords and more about a lack of trust between members of the team, a problem which had been festering for some time. He told them that even after his best friend and brother in arms had been shot down and critically injured, Tony had intended to help Steve Rogers. He said that he’d gone to Siberia to assist with whatever crusade Steve had thought worth all of that, but that Zemo, who’d beaten them there, had successfully completed his plan to turn them against each other. 

He didn’t mention the video or what HYDRA had forced Bucky to do. He just said, with a rueful smile, that he was only human, that he was stressed and was manipulated, and that he hit first. He said that after the first hit, Rogers and Barnes attacked him back, two against one, put him down and beat him half to death and then left him there to die, in a disabled suit, in a HYDRA bunker that would have become his grave if it hadn’t been for an emergency distress beacon and Vision’s thankfully fast arrival. Which was true, even if it sounded so much worse suddenly, even if Steve hadn’t actually known how badly he’d hurt Tony. 

When he was done explaining, Tony told the assembled reporters that more news would be announced as it came, and that as of that moment, he had no intention of ever welcoming back any of the Rogues, or of ending the Avengers Initiative. He told them that they would rebuild the Avengers to be better than ever, and that he wouldn’t allow the mistakes and the willful ignorance and the violent behavior of some to ruin the ideal that the Avengers represented. He finished by saying that he, and those who listened to the wishes of the world, still believed in the Accords, and that they would work hard to make sure that the people’s voices were heard.

Back in Wakanda, Natasha shook her head and said Stark wasn’t thinking about the future. Clint snarled “bullshit” at Tony’s claim that he went to Siberia as a friend, and Wanda just sneered at the screen, magic swirling at her fingertips. But Steve wasn’t sure what he felt. He hadn’t expected Tony to tell them the truth, because the truth wasn’t very favorable to Tony and his side, or so Steve had thought. But the way he said it there, it really didn’t sound so bad. The audience of reporters there certainly seemed to be on Tony’s side—and, over the next few days, it became clear that most of the public was too—and Steve wanted to say that that was because Tony was manipulating the truth, but he really wasn’t. 

Maybe Steve hadn’t had a chance to present his side, what was wrong with the Accords and why he’d had to defend Bucky, but Tony had barely mentioned the Accords, and people were still praising him and cursing Steve’s name. Soldiers and veterans were calling him a traitor for leaving a man behind, average citizens were saying that he killed innocents and never answered for it, and the millions of people who seemed to be loyal to Tony Stark for one reason or another were claiming that if Steve Rogers was willing to do that to a teammate and supposed friend just because he disagreed with him, how could he possibly be trusted to defend the people?

Steve wanted to dismiss them, to stand firm in what he believed. But seeing Tony on that podium had shaken something in him. Learning what he’d done to Tony, what he’d nearly done, had drained some of the righteousness from him and left him vulnerable. He couldn’t regret defending Bucky, but he hadn’t meant to trade one friend’s life for another’s. If it weren’t for that emergency signal—which Steve had known nothing about—and Vision, Tony would have died there. The knowledge was leaving Steve raw and open, and he couldn’t muster up a defense to the criticisms thrown his way. He couldn’t help but read and listen to the people calling him untrustworthy and a criminal and a failure, and wonder if they were actually right.

The only thing he could count on was his team, those who’d stuck behind him. Over the next few days, they reassured him that they were on his side, that they defended him and understood what he’d done and why. He believed in them, in people, and knowing that he still had their trust kept him going and helped him forget his worries about Tony. As long as his team was together, everything would work out okay.

Of course, they weren’t all together. Natasha had joined them right after he’d broken the others out of the Raft, but Bucky was back in cryo by his own decision. Steve had tried to talk him out of it, but he was insistent on going back in until the triggers in his head could be dealt with. T’Challa told them that his people were working on something, and his sister had stopped by once to tell Steve that she thought she might know what to do, so Steve was hopeful, but waiting was hard. He went by Bucky’s cryo chamber every day to tell him news, just to talk to him, even though he knew that Bucky couldn’t hear him. It still made him feel a little better.

Just four days after Tony’s press conference, Steve was down in the lab, sitting and watching Bucky, when Natasha yanked the door open behind him. The second he caught sight of the look on her face, he was on his feet, knowing something awful had happened. “You need to see this,” she said before he could even ask.

She took him back to their lounge, where the others were all gathered around the tv, looking grim. Clint had his arm around Wanda, who looked like she was seconds from either bursting into tears or throwing something. “What’s wrong?” Steve asked, and Clint just shook his head.

Sam pointed at the tv. “News report just came out, claiming they got ‘new information’ about Wanda and her brother and how they worked for HYDRA.”

“What?” Steve said, at the same time Wanda burst out, “I didn’t know it was HYDRA!”

“We need to see what they’re saying,” Natasha said grimly, seating herself and gesturing for Steve to follow her.

“Why does it matter?” Wanda snarled. Tiny tendrils of red magic lifted her hair, and Clint grimaced and withdrew the arm around her. “This must be Stark’s doing. Throwing out lies about me, trying to turn people against me.”

“It matters because millions of people are going to see this,” Natasha snapped. “Whether it’s true or not, you can bet that people will believe it. We need to know what they’re saying. Play,” she told the tv, and the news report resumed.

“—team of experts decoding the HYDRA files that were released during the information dump that Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff masterminded several years ago,” one of the reporters was saying. “Many of the files were buried under layers and layers of protections, so it has taken until now to truly be sure of their contents. But just yesterday, the files regarding the HYDRA experimentation on and training of several of their so-called ‘enhanced’—namely Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch and a former member of the Avengers—were completely decoded. We warn viewers that some of the following images and videos are graphic and disturbing. Robert?”

Steve only got a second to be irritated that they were calling Wanda a “former Avenger.” They’d split less than a week ago, and Wanda was still an Avenger. They all were. The screen switched over to a split, showing a male reporter in one corner and on the larger screen, a copy of a handwritten document of some kind. Steve didn’t have time to read more than “Trial 6” in a messy scrawl before the reporter was talking. 

“Thanks, Karen. This is just one of the well-hidden documents of the HYDRA base—or perhaps torture chamber would be a better description—where they experimented on people with various magical and radioactive objects. These victims, in many cases, were unwilling, people kidnapped from nearby villages and off the streets. The unwilling victims, people HYDRA considered ‘disposable,’ were used in the earliest trials, and those who had passed the ‘qualifications,’ so to speak, were saved for the later ones.”

“What qualifications were those, Robert?”

“From what we can decipher, there were physical fitness tests, plus chemical and genetic tests done with a variety of chemicals, many of which were illegal, and all of which were unregulated. There were also personality profiles involved, a sort of strange psychiatric exam headed by HYDRA agents. Keep in mind, these were probably far from qualified professionals, but from what we can tell, they were looking for people who were, to put it simply, unstable. They had a number of ‘qualified’ candidates for testing who’d murdered their own siblings, parents, or children for a variety of reasons. HYDRA liked these people because they were considered ‘ruthless’ and would do anything to achieve a goal. They also had a special interest in people who were single-mindedly focused on a particular obsession, usually revenge on some real or imagined third party, because, as you can see from these reports—” the background changed to show some HYDRA documents with an English translation computerized in— “HYDRA considered those people ‘undeniably easy to manipulate.’”

Wanda lunged forward like she was going to attack the screen and only Clint’s hand on her arm kept her on the couch. “That’s a lie!” she shouted, but Natasha just shushed her. Steve wanted to move to comfort her, but the reporter was continuing.

“In the matter of our person of interest in this investigation, Wanda Maximoff, we uncovered their file on her, as well as her brother, Pietro, now deceased.” The screen switched again, a new document with an English translation that appeared at the bottom as the reporter read. “The summary of their file reads as follows: ‘Maximoff, Wanda and Pietro, twins, age 17. Sokovian nationals, parents killed by mortar shell involved in war at age 10. Claim that weapons used were of Stark Industries design. Subjects blame Tony Stark (Person of Interest, see doc. 1986-374B) for death of parents. Male subject, when questioned, defers to sister. Female subject elaborates revenge plans against Tony Stark and is amenable to experimentation in order to increase personal power and gain perceived vengeance. She has focused all of her anger on a single target—recommend encouraging blame for death of parents, redirecting onto HYDRA targets. Both subjects at level 7 physical fitness; save for Trial 12 or beyond for genetic experimentation.’”

Wanda growled again, but Steve tuned her out this time to continue listening. “There’s an addendum here,” the reporter said, and a new document appeared briefly as it was translated. “‘Investigation into given address concluded 04 April 2012. Counterfeit Stark shells confirmed, no active weaponry salvageable. This information not to be reported to subjects in question.’”

Wanda let out an enraged scream and Clint and Sam, the two sitting closest to her, were forced to jump off the couch as red sparks flew toward them. “That’s not true!” she shouted. “It was Stark’s fault! Everything was Stark’s fault!”

Clint knelt in front of her, as close as he could get, hands held up in a peaceful gesture. “Wanda, I’m sure you’re right. Who knows where they’re getting these ‘documents,’ they’re probably all fake.”

Wanda wrapped her arms around herself and let out a sound like a sob. The magic retreated into her, and Clint moved forward again to give her a hug. “Stark must have released this,” she growled into his shoulder, and he nodded encouragingly, sitting back down. Sam, seeing that she was calm again, cautiously sat back down as well. 

But Steve caught Natasha’s eye over Scott’s shoulder, and the look on her face shocked him. The slightly arched eyebrow, the nearly imperceptible shake of the head, they made it clear what she really thought. The documents on the tv weren’t fake, they were real HYDRA reports on Wanda, at least that’s what Natasha thought. And she did know a lot more about spotting faked documents than Steve did, after all, so he was inclined to believe her, but… could that really be true? That the weapons used to kill Wanda and Pietro’s parents hadn’t ever belonged to Tony at all, but were just fakes?

He did recall, just once, Tony trying to explain that to him, when Steve had approached him alone shortly after the Ultron incident. He’d been hoping to convince Tony to swallow his pride and go and apologize to Wanda for what he’d done, however inadvertently, to her and her family. But Tony had told him flat-out that he didn’t kill Wanda’s parents. He said that in the unlikely chance it really was a Stark weapon, then it was one of the ones sold behind his back by Obadiah Stane, the untrustworthy businessman who’d tried to have Tony killed several times. When Steve had asked about the “unlikely” comment, Tony had simply said that if it were really one of his weapons, the kids wouldn’t have survived to stare at an unexploded shell. Tony had said that his weapons always worked, that’s why they were the best. Steve just remembered being annoyed at Tony’s attitude, inserting his own ego into the conversation like always. That, and being uninclined to believe him, after Ultron. Clearly, Tony’s inventions didn’t always work the way he wanted them to. Steve remembered Tony trying to bring them “evidence” to prove his innocence in creating Ultron, too, but they’d dismissed it.

He shook his head back at Natasha, hoping to convey that they’d talk about it later, and turned his attention back to the tv. “—to be believed,” the female reporter was saying on one side of the screen, “how was a woman like this ever allowed onto the Avengers? Someone with a deep personal grudge against a man who was already a member of the team, a grudge that was only encouraged by a terrorist organization which she willingly joined?”

“Unfortunately, Karen, her irrational hatred of Tony Stark is the least of the horrifying evidence we have uncovered. I’d like to turn it over to Aabha, our video expert.”

The picture changed again, this time to a young woman standing in front of a screen that showed several images of what looked like an excavation site with crime scene tape around it. “Thank you, Robert,” the woman said. “Behind me are pictures of a mass grave discovered near the eastern border of Sokovia, not far from the HYDRA base where we now know the Maximoffs were experimented on and then trained. This is one of many similar sites found both within the borders of Sokovia and outside the country. For years, the cause of the victims’ deaths were unknown, and even now, many remain unidentified. But those who were able to be identified were cross-matched with the lists we now have of victims used in the first ‘trials’ of experimentation done by HYDRA. Every single one of them matched one of the lists. We can only assume that those unidentified in these mass graves are the others on those lists who died in the trials, the homeless and those without family to report them missing or provide means by which to identify the bodies.”

Beside them, Sam shifted uncomfortably on the couch. “Did you know about this?” he asked Wanda.

“They told us there were others, ones who didn’t survive the trials with the scepter,” Wanda said, and something about her tone bothered Steve. It was almost dismissive. But that tone disappeared as quickly as it had come as she continued. “I didn’t know what they’d done with them. They never told us that.” She sounded upset and Steve wanted to tell Sam to leave her alone, but he was already talking again.

“Did you know they weren’t willing? Did you know they’d kidnapped people off the streets to be the guinea pigs so that you would have a better chance of surviving?”

“Wait, is this a surprise?” Scott piped up. “I mean, it’s HYDRA. I, um…. I didn’t know anyone here ever worked for HYDRA.”

“I didn’t know they were HYDRA!” Wanda snapped. “They told us they were a division of SHIELD.”

“And you couldn’t figure that out?” Scott said skeptically. “I mean, no offense, but I’d think the human experimentation and, I don’t know, general evil vibe would have given you a hint it wasn’t an official thing. Also, seriously, you can read minds, right? How could you not know who they were?”

Wanda scoffed and opened her mouth to reply, but Natasha beat her to it. “Be quiet!” she snapped, gesturing back at the screen.

Wanda made a disgruntled noise, but she didn’t say anything else, and they all turned their attention back to the reporter. “The following images and videos may be graphic and disturbing to some viewers,” the reporter was cautioning. “In diving deeper into the HYDRA files, we found records of the ‘training’ of Wanda Maximoff. As soon as it became apparent that she had gained the power of mental manipulation of a kind, they began honing that skill… using prisoners of war and more kidnapped victims. The vagrants were first, in the early trials, in order to give Maximoff a chance to learn her powers and gain some kind of control. HYDRA thoroughly documented these trials and their effects, in order to get a full understanding of the extent of her abilities.”

Behind the reporter, the screen flashed image after image, and the only way Steve could think to describe them was… horrifying. The first few were living people, sitting against walls and on cots. Their faces were frozen in expressions of terror and the red gleam in their eyes betrayed Wanda’s influence. The next few were even worse; people with deep, raw wounds over their faces and arms, some whose eyes appeared to have been gouged out. At first Steve thought it had been done by a dull blade of some kind, but when he spotted their hands, he understood. They’d done it to themselves.

“The records of the early ‘experiments’ detail people who were left comatose, unable to respond to outside stimuli, screaming continuously or completely shutting down in fear. HYDRA deemed those ‘failures’ and executed them,” the reporter said. “In some cases, the victims were already dead when Maximoff was done with them, either due to extensive brain damage or from self-inflicted trauma.”

At the other end of the couch, Sam was edging away from Wanda. Clint, though he hadn’t withdrawn the arm he had around her, was sitting stiffly in place, staring straight ahead like he was afraid of turning his head.

“Over the course of several years, Maximoff increased her control and her power level, the records report. Eventually, when she was capable of extracting information or forcing, in HYDRA’s words, ‘an illusion causing extreme pain and terror,’ they moved on to having her ‘interrogate’ prisoners. She first practiced, of course, on dozens of kidnapped victims, extracting basic information about things like their families and hobbies. It appears that HYDRA instructed her as to what kind of work to ‘practice;’ whether creating illusions that would cause fear, causing extreme pain, or sometimes, working on her telekinetic powers. The following is a surveillance clip of one of their later interrogations of a HYDRA victim, later identified as a captured Spanish military operative named David Rodriguez.”

The clip wasn’t long. The audio was low quality, but everything they said was in another language anyway, one Steve didn’t know. It was clear what was happening anyway. It was Wanda and two men in the room; he presumed the one tied and on his knees was the Spanish operative, Rodriguez. The other man, HYDRA, was saying something to Wanda and pointing at the man. Wanda nodded, waved her hands, and the familiar red magic enveloped the man. Immediately, the man’s eyes opened wide and he screamed like he was being tortured.

Wanda withdrew the magic after a moment, and the HYDRA man approached Rodriguez, tilting his chin up and saying something to him. Rodriguez jerked his head away and spat something back, defiant, and the man gestured once more to Wanda. She waved her hand and again the magic consumed him, this time lifting him up into the air as he writhed and screamed.

The same cycle repeated a few more times, with Rodriguez becoming more and more broken down after each attack by Wanda, though each one only lasted seconds. By the end of the third, he was sobbing and muttering to himself. He flinched away when the HYDRA man approached him, and on the video, Wanda smiled. Finally, Rodriguez gave in and shouted something at them; they must have been satisfied with whatever he told them, because the man pulled out a gun and shot Rodriguez in the head.

Right in front of Wanda, and she just watched.

The reporter on the screen was speaking some more, but Steve wasn’t listening. He wasn’t sure any of the others were either. He was trying to reconcile everything he’d just seen with everything he knew about Wanda. She was just a kid. Even in that video, she’d been so young, and misguided. HYDRA had filled her head with lies, and Steve knew very well how much they could mess someone up. Was what had happened to her really that different from Bucky’s situation?

A small, honest voice in his head was telling him that Bucky would likely punch him for the comparison. After all, Bucky hadn’t volunteered. He’d been strapped down and tortured and forced to do what he did. But maybe things weren’t all that different for Wanda. She’d been young, full of grief, and looking for guidance. Once she was in, it might not have been so easy to get out. Maybe they were threatening her, or her brother, should they attempt to leave. 

But that smile… on the video, she didn’t look like she was being forced into anything. She looked like she was _enjoying_ it.

Sam and Scott had moved off the couch completely, backing away like they thought Wanda might attack them at any second. Clint had also stood up, though he was still just a few steps from the couch, frozen in place and looking shell-shocked. Only Natasha and Steve remained seated, but they stood up too when they saw the look on Wanda’s face. That, and the tendrils of red magic leaking from around her. The report continued on in the background, but none of them were paying it any attention.

“This is all Stark’s fault,” she said, eyes flicking between Clint and Steve as she gestured at the tv, but there was a tremble in her voice. “You know he did this now, to turn everyone against me. Against all of us, and to split us apart.”

Across the room, Sam shook his head. “Good on him, then. You can’t seriously expect us to side with you here? After seeing that?”

Wanda’s fists clenched and the magic around her pulsed, and Steve jumped forward to place himself between them, hands up. “No, Wanda, listen. You’re right. Tony is doing this to tear us apart, and we can’t let him. You deserve a chance to explain, and we’ll give you that. We’ll protect you.”

There were protests behind him, from Sam and Scott and maybe even Clint too, but before Steve could turn around and answer them, the doors opened and T’Challa came in, surrounded by several of his warrior guards.

“Your Majesty?” Natasha said, uncertainty in her voice. T’Challa looked grim, his guards even more serious than usual, if that were possible.

“I see you and your… companions have just watched one of the reports that have come out about Ms. Maximoff,” T’Challa said, and Steve’s heart sank.

“T’Challa, you can’t possibly believe—” Steve started, but T’Challa raised a hand and cut him off.

“There are versions of the report you watched being broadcast all over the world right now, but that is not where I got my information. I happen to know for a fact that what they are showing is true, and my people have verified the information. They have also been very clear as to their feelings on the subject.”

T’Challa glanced over at one of the guards and back to Steve. “I have already gone against many of my people’s wishes by allowing outsiders into the country. My father’s decision to open the country was contested already, but to bring outsiders here? That had not been well received. This latest insult is one too many. Wakanda does not play host to murderers and terrorists, to people who would do the things this witch has done with no remorse.”

Wanda tried to shout a protest, but one of the guards leveled a spear at her and commanded her to be silent. She immediately got a look that clearly said she’d like nothing more than to throw the guard across the room, but a look from Steve kept her hands to herself for the moment.

Steve turned back to T’Challa and put his hands up again, trying to get the King to see reason. “Surely you can see—” he started again, but was once again interrupted.

“I can see that the evidence is more than clear,” T’Challa said imperiously. “And I know that it is my duty as King not to do what I wish without question, but to listen to the wishes of my people and carry out their best interests. I am not unreasonable, Captain; the rest of you may stay, though I will have to fight for you to remain. But the witch is no longer welcome in this country.”

“You can’t throw her out,” Steve pleaded, stepping closer to T’Challa. “After seeing that report, the whole world will be against her. People won’t think rationally, they’ll be out for blood. She’ll get killed out there.”

“If that is her fate, then it is one she has brought upon herself. She made the choice to commit the crimes she did, and I will not protect her from the consequences. You should not either.”

“We won’t abandon her,” Steve said firmly. “Where she goes, we go.”

T’Challa inclined his head. “If that is what you choose, I will not stop you from leaving with her. But be warned: if you choose to leave Wakanda, you will not be welcomed back, not even if the witch is no longer in your company.”

“No way!” Scott said from across the room, and Steve and T’Challa turned to look at him and Sam.

“Man, you’re insane if you think we’re leaving here, where we’re safe, to throw our lot in with her,” Sam said. “She’s a monster.”

“Sam.” Steve pleaded, but Sam just shook his head.

“You go if you want, Steve, we won’t stop you. But it’s not worth it to me. I don’t stick by people like that. And if you do… then you’re not the guy I thought.” He said it like a goodbye, and Steve could feel something breaking between them, something that sagged his shoulders with despair.

“Cowards,” Wanda spat at them. “You’d have done exactly the same if you were in my situation. You have no idea what it’s been like, what I’ve been through.” But Sam and Scott didn’t rise to her taunt, just backing away a few more steps, keeping T’Challa’s guards between them and her. Silently, Clint moved over to join them. He didn't have to say a word to make it clear where he stood.

“It’ll be okay, Wanda,” Steve told her, and she managed to give him a small, watery smile. Steve turned to Natasha, ready to tell her to get her things, only to freeze in place at the look on her face. “Nat… not you too,” he said, practically a whisper.

She just shook her head slowly. “You should know by now, Steve, that I need to do what’s best for me. I picked your side in this before, and I was wrong. I see that now. We’re lucky enough to be here now, and we’re not going to find somewhere else that’s this safe. I’m not going to throw that away.”

Steve closed his eyes for a minute, steeling himself, and then nodded. “Okay.” It wasn’t okay, it wasn’t the least bit okay to be abandoned by most of his team, but there was nothing he could do about it right now. He’d promised to protect Wanda, to hear her out, and he wouldn’t go back on that now, not even for the promise of staying safe in Wakanda. They could do it on their own, just him, Wanda, and Bucky—because where he went, Bucky went. He hated to pull Bucky out of the safety of Wakanda, and without a cure for his triggers, but if this was how T’Challa was planning to treat his promise to protect them… well, clearly he couldn’t be trusted as much as Steve had originally thought. Steve moved to stand closer to Wanda and turned back to T’Challa.

“How long will it take to get Bucky up?” He’d have to explain the situation to Bucky too, and he felt a brief, heart-wrenching moment of fear. What if, with his history with HYDRA, Bucky panicked and tried to run from them? Steve would have to explain in every way possible that it wasn’t the same, that Wanda wasn’t like the people who’d tortured him and forced him to become the Winter Soldier.

T’Challa, however, frowned. “Why would we wake Mr. Barnes?”

“If I’m leaving, Bucky’s coming with me,” Steve said, but T’Challa shook his head.

“I made a promise to Mr. Barnes, Captain, one I will not revoke for anyone, not even you. He asked, of his own free will, to be put back into cryosleep and not to be woken until we had found a cure for the triggers in his head. I promised him my protection during that time. I’m afraid that you cannot convince me to change that promise, unless you have suddenly procured an instant cure for Mr. Barnes.”

Steve’s stomach dropped. “What are you saying?”

“I am saying, Captain, that if you choose to leave with Ms. Maximoff, you will do so alone. And if you wish to stay with Mr. Barnes, then you must stay here.”

“So you’re forcing me to choose. Wanda or Bucky.”

T’Challa looked unconcerned with Steve’s predicament. “The witch’s situation is one of her own making. However, when you accompanied him here, you seemed quite adamant that Mr. Barnes had no choice in the matter of his past actions and that you must protect him. I am not forcing this choice upon you: your choice in companions and the actions they have chosen to take have done that.”

Steve swallowed. Wanda was depending on him, and he’d said he would help her. But Bucky… Bucky needed him. Maybe he was still in cryo, but when they found that cure, Bucky would need him again. And Steve had to be there for him. After everything he’d done… he’d done it all for Bucky. He’d fought Tony, given up his title and his shield and his home, all for Bucky. He couldn’t abandon him now. He had to make sure he was safe.

And wasn’t T’Challa right, in a way? Steve had said Wanda deserved a chance to explain herself, but… she’d already gotten that, hadn’t she? He’d been listening with a sympathetic ear long ago, when he asked her to tell him about how she’d come to be Ultron’s helper and why she’d changed sides. She’d told him then about working for HYDRA, about how they’d lied to her and used her, but also given her powers and taught her how to use them. And she’d never once mentioned anything they’d just seen in that report. Steve would have been willing to listen, if she had, but she’d lied to him. A lie by omission was still a lie, after all.

He turned toward Wanda, still not absolutely decided but pretty sure what he needed to do, and she must have seen something in his face, because she let out a scream and her magic pulsed around her. “Traitor!” she screamed, pointing at him, and Steve flinched, prepared for an attack.

It never came. He blinked in surprise as T’Challa’s guards surrounded Wanda, each pulling something small and golden from their belts and holding the items out. They appeared to be creating some kind of barrier around Wanda, who yelled again and tried to send out a blast of power. The blast was reflected harmlessly off the barrier and onto Wanda herself, who was thrown back a few steps, stumbling and furious.

“Do not presume that we know nothing of magic or how to contain it,” one of the guards snarled as they closed in around her. As they moved in and her attacks were reflected off the golden barrier, Wanda’s face went from angry to fearful, and she recoiled from the advancing guards. They chanted something and the golden barrier coalesced around Wanda, surrounding her body and then seeming to melt into it. For a moment, golden circles glowed on her wrists, then faded, and the guards stepped back slightly.

Wanda threw her hands out toward them as soon as the barrier was gone, but nothing happened. She tried it again, and when again nothing happened, she let out a hysterical sob and sank to the ground. She looked truly pitiable, and Steve would have felt awful for leaving her to have her powers taken away, to be thrown out of the country, if she hadn’t attacked him before he could even make the decision completely. He was still stunned by that, by how quickly she’d turned on him. He hadn’t entirely recovered from the shock of realizing that she was attacking him.

The guards seized her under the arms and began dragging her away without preamble, and Steve turned helplessly to T’Challa. “Can’t you do something? You took away her powers, isn’t that enough? She’s no danger to you or your people.”

“Sealing away the powers she did not deserve does not absolve her of her crimes,” T’Challa said grimly, raising his voice to be heard over Wanda’s wails as she was pulled away. 

Just as she reached the doorway, Wanda struggled to her feet on her own and yanked her arms out of the guards’ grips, turning back to Steve and the others. Tears were streaming down her face, but she was clearly back to anger again rather than despair. “You’re all cowards! Traitors! None of you care about me; I should have killed you all when I had the chance! You’re all with Stark, with that bastard who ruined my life, who killed Pietro! I should kill you all!” Her voice rose to a screech at the end of the tirade and she lunged forward like she was going to try to attack one of them—to what end, Steve didn’t know, since without her powers she couldn’t ever hope to beat any one of them in a fight—but the guards yanked her back. She kept yelling as they dragged her down the hall, but her words devolved into unintelligible screams.

Steve shook his head. How could he have been so wrong about Wanda? Had he really just been taken in by her sad story and promises that she’d changed? He shook his head as her screams died away. He was heartbroken by the betrayal, and by the fact that whatever she’d done, she was right: Tony had released that information to try to split them apart, and he’d succeeded.

T’Challa made some comment about the rest of them being watched carefully and left with the remaining guards, but Steve barely noticed, too busy thinking about Wanda. He looked up when Natasha’s hand landed on his arm, but he couldn’t quite muster up a smile for her. She’d already told him that she’d sell him out in a heartbeat if she thought it would protect her. After that revelation, it would be hard to trust her again.

He looked across the room to Sam and Scott, both of whom were avoiding eye contact with him, and despair gripped him even tighter. What Sam had said… had he really broken their friendship and Sam’s trust that easily, had he ruined their camaraderie permanently just by defending Wanda so quickly?

One by one, the others filed out of the room and back to their own quarters, and Steve just watched them go, feeling empty inside. He would never regret staying here with Bucky, and as long as Bucky was safe, everything else would be worth it. It had to be. But everything that had happened… none of that was meant to happen, and he hated it.

Tony had torn the Avengers apart, and now what was left of the team had splintered from within. They were finished.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry that this one doesn’t end with Steve realizing that he’s the cause of his own damn problems (instead of blaming Tony like a moron), but it didn’t fit with how quickly he defended Wanda.
> 
> Apparently Wanda and Pietro were 10 when their parents were killed, but they didn’t actually join HYDRA until “adulthood,” at least according to the MCU wiki. I definitely don’t buy into the bullshit claim that Wanda’s still supposed to be a teenager in Ultron or even CW (if you want a teenage character, hire a teenage actor, or at the very least one who looks like a teenager, and don’t slather her in so much makeup that even if she were 15 she’d look 25), and I would assume their experiments and “training” of the twins’ powers would take several years, not to mention planning for the whole attack on Stark and whatever else HYDRA wanted them to do.
> 
> Since vibranium seems to be the new MCU wild card (aka can do whatever the hell they want it to even when it makes absolutely no sense), I’m going to say they can do some magic stuff with it too. That or some Wakandans study sorcery like Dr. Strange, I wouldn’t be surprised.


End file.
